Becoming Sure of Your Purpose

If you find yourself living in constant doubt and fear to the extent that you cannot move forward in life, you’re not alone. Many people are overcome by timidity. This can lead to a life of mediocrity, if you let it. You don’t have to be cocky or self-confident to achieve great things in life. Simply learn a little more about how to be sure of your own purpose in life.

Your abilities and potential are not opinions; they’re facts. As we are all in some ways unique and in other ways similar, we each have potentials that can be continually developed into a set of abilities.

As you were created to use and thus develop your own abilities, you need not worry about measuring your worth by how far along you are. Instead, you should focus on how you can use whatever you have to benefit the people around you. It is not how good you are at doing things that will bring you joy; it is how well you use the abilities you have to help others that will be reflected in how much joy you experience.

Question Yourself to Know Yourself

If you don’t already know what it is you can enjoying doing with your life, you need to ask yourself some questions in order to take a personal inventory of your interests and abilities. If you don’t already know the answers to these questions, you need to explore them more deeply in order to know your purpose.

1. If failure were impossible, what great thing would you set out to do?

2. What have you daydreamed about doing with your life? What did you want to be in your youth? What have you always care about or had an interest in doing?

3. What do others think you’re good at doing? Are you confident of any of the things you’ve been praised for in the past?

4. What do you look forward to doing? What are your hobbies?

5. Are there certain things you want to be able to do better? Can you map a path of steps to be taken that will help you get better? Can anyone else help you get better?

When you can answer all of these questions, you should have a pretty good idea of the general direction of your life. Your purpose is not some sort of idealized fantasy but a general pathway that has been laid out for you by your own features. There is no need to fall into self-doubt, as you must simply move along that pathway, led by your developing abilities.

Act in Good Faith

Doubt is an emotion. It can creep up on you without a good reason. Everyone experiences doubt at various times. Success is sometimes simply a matter of ignoring doubt. You know what your skills are and you know what you want to do, so act on those skills and let the doubt resolve itself. The way you carry yourself forward with your purpose will inspire yourself and those around you.

Consider carefully how those who inspire you by their own purposes and mimic them. How do they pace their speaking? How loudly do they speak? What types of posture and movement do they exhibit when walking or talking? Doubt will eventually be denied simply by pushing forward in a purposeful manner.

Set Yourself Up with a Mentor

Find someone you admire that either has some similar abilities or a similar purpose. Model those things you admire. Allow yourself to make mistakes as a part of the process of getting better. The greatest success will generally be had if you can enlist the person you admire in the process as your mentor. You may have to swallow your pride to ask this of another person, but surprisingly few people can say no to an admirer.

The benefit of a mentor over simply someone you admire is that a mentor is available to answer questions you have and to give you insights into the approaches taken to get things done. Often just being able to ask procedural questions of a mentor will greatly cut down on your learning curve. Being able to understand what your mentor is thinking when making decisions allows you to benefit from your mentor’s experience. If nothing else, you’ll spend less time questioning your purpose and more time living by it because you have someone to guide you.

Being sure of your purpose is a necessary step to living confidently. When you know yourself, act upon what you know, and get guidance from others, you will be able to overcome any doubts and achieve what you were created to achieve.